The Alternative Correspondent: ghosts of the past haunt the ‘hollowed out’ interior or Hestercombe House while the 50 acre gardens are silent witnesses to its 20th century decline and restoration

By Harry Mottram: It was clearly a chaotic scene in the early 2000s as visitors to Hestercombe Gardens near Taunton tried to park their Ford Escorts and Mini Metros outside the 19th century country house. The house was occupied by the the Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service and for obvious reasons they too wanted to park their fire engines and assorted support vehicles outside the house as well. At the time the gardens were run by Hestercombe Gardens Trust set up by Philip White who had mortgaged his house so as to raise enough cash to start the restoration of the gardens – and to help with funds the gardens had been opened to the public resulting in frequent traffic chaos on the front lawn and drive way.

Since then the fire service have moved out, the house has been largely restored although minus the original fixtures and furniture, and the gardens are back to how their Victorian and Edwardian creators had envisaged. Dating back to the 12th century the house is largely a Victorian make-over of the previous Georgian mansion while the gardens include several distinctive designs. Gertrude Jekyll and Edwin Lutyens combined in the early 20th century to layout the ‘great plat’, the Dutch Garden, the water channel of the side terrace and much architectural detail to the gardens including an Orangery. The Georgians laid out the woodland landscape gardens with it lakes and waterfall, while the Victorian era produced the front terraced garden with its views over Taunton and a rose garden to one side.

As a result the gardens are of national importance reflecting as they do the changing tastes and styles of the the country’s gardeners and garden designers. They are laid out on a vast scale with the woodland valley and lakes including quirky constructions like the Octagon summer house and the Witch’s House – recreations of the original buildings that were allowed to decay and collapse – and vandalised for years. As a place to wander and take in the views and detailing the gardens are rewarding if exhausting – but thankfully contain many places to sit down. The house however is another matter as when the last of the owners died in 1951 what was left of the furniture was ‘hollowed out’ and stripped of its furniture – and so although the house contains today an art exhibition and a room showing films about the history of Hestercombe there’s rather a lot of empty rooms – the main highlight being the dramatic staircase. During World War Two the army moved in and more than 30 barracks were built – one wonders what damage all those boots caused to the property. In 1944 the Crown Estate took possession in lieu of unpaid death duties and leased it to the fire brigade in the 1950s.

Inside the house there are a huge collection of photographs showing the owners and their staff of the late 19th and early 20th century who look down from the walls like ghosts of the past haunting the empty rooms that echo with your footsteps. You are aware that despite its great size and long history the house is now a shadow of its former self. No maids scurrying around the corridors with plates of hot food for the family, or housekeepers polishing the silver or the gardeners bringing produce to the back door. No more cocktail parties on the lawn or chauffer driven cars arriving with guests or even wartime generals by Jeep to discus plans for D-Day. All gone – but at least the fading photographs help to keep their memories alive.

The original wealth the Portman family had enjoyed was mostly from the vast land holdings they held in the area. That was until the money ran out and the tax bills built up. Running the place with its 50 acres of gardens to maintain, its overheads and repairs plus taxes and rates and utility invoices – was the downfall of the owners – and those same financial problems remain today for the Trust who operate the house and gardens as visitor attractions. In 2025 the Trust called in administrators to help find a way to find a stabilise the finances without closing it as a place to visit. When we visited in September 2026 that was still the situation – and looking around we could see the problems but also the possibilities. As a wedding venue, a conference venue and even with some holiday accommodation there are commercial avenues to explore – hopefully the joint administrators Mark Boughey and Rebecca Dacre, of Forvis Mazars, can find a way to keep Hestercombe open. But for now it is a very pleasant place to explore with the vast gardens and of course cream teas in the cafe – always a good place to end.

To visit Hestercombe see https://www.hestercombe.com/

The Alternative Correspondent is written and edited by Harry Mottram of Axbridge in Somerset

For more visit: www.harrymottram.co.uk or follow him on Facebook, X, Instagram, Threads, BlueSky, YouTube, TikTok, LinkedIn and God knows where else!